Private property and mostly a cinema until 1988, the Quijano was bought by the council of Ciudad Real for 130 million pesetas under the state programme for rehabilitating publicly owned theatres. The municipal architect Emilio Velado ran the works from 1989, adding to the marquee a cast copy of García Coronado's reliefs from the base of the city's Cervantes monument. It reopened in May 1990 with Neruda's Estado de sitio staged by Mikis Theodorakis, and holds 872: 485 in the stalls, 371 in the amphitheatre and sixteen wheelchair places.